


Red

by Ice-teal (TaeHNG)



Series: Prism [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, also they cuss at each other aggressively and affectionately, brot3 sorta, brotp with kisumi, casual grope, dumb sharks being dense, light kisusou
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-03
Updated: 2015-11-03
Packaged: 2018-04-29 17:49:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5137049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaeHNG/pseuds/Ice-teal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin is red, and he stains Sousuke’s days into hues of scarlet in his wake.</p><p>Or, how kisumi single-handedly brought Sourin together, drunk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red

**Author's Note:**

> Read on Tumblr (ice-teal)

Red is a color that spills its essence into its surroundings, easily bleeding into the foreground. Red bleeds loudly, recklessly. It’s obnoxious in its wild brashness, but only because it’s sunk into your bones. It’s temptation, and it’s unforgiving.

Red is a warm color. Sometimes it's a burning, pulsating, volatile kind of heat. Sometimes, it's just warm, like the conviction of blood rushing just under the skin.

Red is a bit sour when diluted; the tang of something sharp watered into a pleasant twinge, like nostalgia. It's a bit hoarse, like scribbles of color pencils or something left out under the constant scorching of the sun.

Rin is red, and he stains Sousuke’s days into hues of scarlet in his wake.

* * *

Rin’s presence is announced by the loud bang of the door hitting the wall as it’s shoved open.

“Sousuke, let’s go out.” He says, barreling into the room.

Sousuke’s attention is forcefully pulled away from his homework by the overwhelming weight of Rin’s mere existence; a dip in the fabric of space-time.

“Rin.” He says in way of reply. “One of these days, that door is going to explode into pieces because your ego is too inflated to fit through it like a normal person.

“Shut it, you oaf. My ego isn’t fat, it’s just big-boned and curvy.” Rin doesn’t miss a beat as he climbs over a hamper to get all up in Sousuke’s face. “Come on, Sou. We’re going out. You need to get about and fraternize.”

“I don’t get a say in this.” Sousuke states.

Rin cackles and points at Sousuke accusingly. “But you do have a say. You only say that because if you acknowledge it, you feel like a tool for giving in to me so easily every time.”

Sousuke turns away and doesn’t respond because it’s true. Rin hears it in the buzzing silence anyways, and smirks at his tired-looking best friend fondly before diving into his closet.

“Black or Blue? Nevermind, black. Here,” He orders, “Put these on. Your pecs are downright unreal in that shirt.”

“Uh-uh.”

“And roll up the sleeves to just below your elbow because your forearms are a true marvel. I have witnessed those tendons and sinews impregnate women who glimpse them."

“Right.” Sousuke says flatly. “And what, should I leave it unbuttoned too, because my abs are…”

“Absolutely Absurd.”

“Did you just-“

Rin cackles noisily.

“Rin, I know you’re trying very hard, and I am very impressed at your literary genius, but I am still exactly 0% more enthusiastic about stuffing myself into a crowded place with questionable people, impregnated or not.”

Rin claps him on the shoulder before breezing off with a flurry of limbs to the bathroom. His bathroom-acoustic voice floats back to Sousuke, “If you really thought that though, you wouldn’t actually say it to me.”

“Either way, you know I really actually couldn’t care less about parties or clubs or whatever you’re trying to drag me to.”

Rin tisks, darting back to stand in front of Sousuke and cards his cold, damp fingers bathed in hair product through the softly drooping black hair, tugging and grooming until he’s satisfied with the precise, dangerous sweep of bangs.

“I’m not saying you do,”  Rin hums cheerfully, and Sousuke stares at his neck the entire time Rin looms over his hair, “But you’re not capable of being apathetic when I’m excited. You do know that, right?"

“Ego.” Sousuke grunts.

Rin beams at him winningly and Sousuke thinks that this must be what it's like to be launched directly into the sun.

* * *

 

Rin is not someone you can quietly pine for. It simply doesn’t work that way. It goes more like this.

Sousuke sees Rin and nothing else. He's too deep into the hurricane that is Rin for self-consciousness to even cross his mind. He gives Rin everything he has to give and Rin takes it all with a bright surprise, as if it wasn’t routine for them. Rin gives Sousuke more than Sousuke can handle with no effort at all. Sousuke is sure the weight of his own fierce devotion is obscured to Rin by his own crimson radiance. So, they go out that night, Rin and Sousuke.

“Oiii, Kisumiii!” Rin leaves his side like a gust, leaving an analogous chill behind. “You scoundrel, you started without me?”

Even from a distance in the din, Rin’s voice is distinct. Sousuke trails after, seeking out the addictive feverishness of Rin’s proximity.

He sees Kisumi’s laughter as he hands Rin a drink, but doesn’t hear his reply.

“What are we doing here exactly?” Sousuke asks, standing close to Rin in the crowd, face hovering close to burgundy fringes.

Kisumi gasps.

Sousuke blinks lazily, and Rin turns into him in mirth and laughs loud enough for Kisumi to hear.

“You forgot my birthday Sou? I’m absolutely heartbroken.” Kisumi whines.

“Your birthday is tomorrow the last time I checked, Kisumi.” Sousuke replies, hauling his eyes away from the flashing teeth and sanguine irises.

“Yeah well, I want to turn 21 with my best mates, drunk off my ass, and preferably with my tongue in someone else’s mouth.” Kisumi says with a grin, shoving some green stuff at Sousuke. “Here, drink that, tight arse.”

Sousuke glances down, and accepts it gingerly with slender fingers.

“He’s got some sort of official party tomorrow, with lots of boring official people and events.” Rin explains, leaning up to speak into Sousuke’s ear, steadying himself on Sousuke’s elbow with a smoldering touch. “Poor kid. Aren’t you glad you came along to be an ace friend?”

“You could have just told me Kisumi asked.” Sousuke grunts back.

Rin shrugs, spins away, and throws a sloppy smirk over his shoulder, “Makes no difference. It’s not like you wouldn’t have come.”

Rin drags Kisumi off with a proclamation of conquest.

Sousuke sighs and inspects his drink, which is a startling green.

Some time later finds Sousuke with the aftertaste of absinthe in his throat and something minty in his nose. It’s dark, and the lights are seizure inducing. Sousuke’s eyes are glued to the sparse crowd, flashes of red tinting his field of vision.

The ebbing flow of bodies look like stop-motion in the fulgurating lights, flat and detached. Yet, Rin looks like he’s wrapped up in his element of liquid fire, flashes of sharp eyebrows and honed smiles.

No one ever approaches Sousuke. He gets his share of appreciative scrutiny and inviting glances, but something must be sufficiently off-putting about him. He gets to bask in Rin’s vivid burn for a while more after all.

Kisumi comes bounding into his field of vision, sucking something off of his fingers and thumb with a wide grin. Making grabby hands at Sousuke with those same fingers, he insists, “Sou-chan, come dance with me. C'mon, c'mon.”

Sousuke raises an eyebrow, glances at Rin watching mirthfully from a distance before looking back at Kisumi, happily flushed, and flushed hair happily mussed. Kisumi takes advantage of his moment of contemplation to drape himself over Sousuke’s shoulder and push him towards the violently throbbing dance floor.

“How drunk is he?” Sousuke mouths exaggeratedly at rin.

“Very!” Rin mouths back emphatically.

Sousuke chuckles despite himself.

“So even Rin doesn’t try to get you to dance huh?” Kisumi drawls barely audibly over the bass, sliding against Sousuke.

“He lets me be sometimes.” Sousuke rumbles back, leaning into his ear.

“You know,” Kisumi mumbles towards his ear and Sousuke leans down to hear, "I think you’re a lot more fun than you let on around him.”

Sousuke steadies the tipsy boy when he stumbles into Sousuke's chest, grip resting comfortably on familiar arms.

 “What are you talking about?” He rumbles back, "I am heaps of fun. All the time.”

“Right,” Kisumi purrs, tapping Sousuke on the cheek, "a huge fucking blast, you are.”

They share a snicker, before the song changes and Kisumi’s eyes alight and he makes some unintelligible drunk-Kisumi noises and begins grinding with a surprising level of balance to the new beat. Though, Sousuke laughs and grabs him by the waist when he careens into someone else.

Rin meets his eyes across a few bobbing heads, and Sousuke is stricken, because even in the havoc, Rin's leering eyes are searing. Sousuke bites his lip hard and fixes Rin with a heavy gaze. The crooked grin that breaks across his face delivers a heady jolt to Sousuke, and he finds his body rolling to the beat of Rin’s movements, front still mashed to Kisumi’s front. Rin raises an eyebrow and shoots him a challenging look.

Vaguely noticing Kisumi shout something at him, Sousuke blinks his attention back and leans his cheek into Kisumi’s temple to talk into his ear, “Sorry, what was that?”

“I said,” Kisumi yells, arms looped around Sousuke’s shoulders to pull his ear closer, “Trynna make Rin jealous, huh?”

It all happens very quickly. Sousuke feels a very deliberate roll of the hips grinding into his own to illustrate Kisumi’s point. He throws the boy a slightly alarmed look, and earns a palm to the crotch. He’s really not all that surprised at this point, because a drunk Kisumi is a very invasively handsy Kisumi.

“I know ’s not for me, Sou.” He hisses into Sousuke’s ear. “Why don’t you do so’thing about it already?”

“My dick?” Sousuke shouts back.

“No, y' nitwit!”

“You’re pretty drunk Kisumi.”

Kisumi rolls his eyes. “Drunk, but not stupid. And it’s officially my birthday now, so since I’ve got the two other things, I need you to make out with me ri'now.”

"W-“ Sousuke gets out half a syllable before his own worry-worn lips are pulled down to slam against Kisumi’s rosy mouth, and he’s over taken by the taste of alcohol and a tang of peach.

“Mmph.” He tries.

Kisumi pulls a millimeter away to grumble, “Don’t try to talk, it’s uncomfortable.” Before promptly licking into Sousuke parted lips.

So, Sousuke just wonders if Rin is watching and figures it’s a best mate sort of duty to give good birthday kisses, and proceeds to snog the living shit out of Kisumi.

* * *

“Sousuke, where have you been keeping that wicked mouth of yours? Christ.” Kisumi blabbers, sprawled lazily over Rin's arm. “Rin-Rin, won’t you kiss the birthday boy too?”

“Fuck off, Kisumi.” Rin barks a laugh, and snorts when Kisumi look at him sadly. “Stop that, you could literally get anyone you wanted to kiss you.”

Kisumi hums sleepily, like a contented cat.

By the time Rin and Sousuke have dropped Kisumi off at his place, the atmosphere has smoothened like beaten batter, the night air stinging their cheeks as they amble down the deserted streets side by side.

“So, what was that?” Rin buzzes, shivering slightly and bouncing a bit to keep warm.

Sousuke pulls his hand out of his pocket to rub Rin’s arm with a warm hand. Rin hums in satisfaction.

“What was what?”

“You know what.” Rin bumps his shoulder, “I’ve never actually seen you kiss a bloke before.”

“Hm.” Sousuke shrugs.

Rin gives him a bright-eyed glance. “You and Kisumi would make quite the pair.”

Sousuke guffaws. “Me and Kisumi.”

“Graceful.” Rin quips sarcastically before nudging him curiously, “What, you haven’t ever thought about it?”

Sousuke snickers. “I have, and then immediately pissed myself laughing.”

A thoughtful silence falls between the two, and thickens palpably as they walk in step, Sousuke with an arm draped over Rin’s shoulders to trickle what's left of his body heat onto him.

Fifteen minutes of a familiar walk home later, Sousuke is unlocking their shared flat's sticky door with practiced hands to let Rin into the relative warmth within.

Rin turns to him with steadfast eyes as Sousuke closes the door behind himself, toeing off his shoes. “What about me?”

“What about you what?” Sousuke yawns his reply, dropping his keys into the basket and turning his back on Rin to fumble for the lamp switch.

“Have you thought about me. And you.” Rin clarifies firmly, standing loosely in the deep shadows of their unlit living room.

Sousuke freezes with his hand on the lamp, a bolt of something indistinct darting down his torso.

“You-“ He clears his throat, “You know the answer to that, Rin.”

“Do I?” Rin asks, as if he knew the answer to  _something_ , but not that. Sousuke can feel his gaze setting fire to his back.

“How could you not?” He murmurs, abandoning the lamp and turning around. Rin’s face is streaked with nothing but street light filtered through the blinds, and even then, Sousuke can almost physically feel every twitch in his steady expression.

“Because, I can’t know things you don’t say, you dunce.”

Sousuke words escape breathily. “You do, most of the time. I’ve no reason to hide anything from you.”

“Your expectations of me are too high, Sousuke.” Rin steps closer, voice tinged with something tight, like anger, or exasperation.

“Maybe yours are too low.” Sousuke replies, syllables barely making it out of his mouth before Rin’s lips are on it, relentless from the start.

Sousuke whimpers something strangled into Rin’s red-hot kiss. The furious burst of liquid warmth over his mouth accompanied by the aggressive, achingly familiar scent of Rin and the new, equally branding taste of Rin mixed with whatever he had been drinking all night knocks sparks into the back of Sousuke’s eyes, and overtakes him entirely, and he realizes he’s clutching at Rin like he’s suffocating, burning alive in the raw, untamed fire that Prometheus has brought into his arms.

His brain doesn’t catch up until their faces are numb and chins slick, until Sousuke has memorized the way Rin’s bones and muscles dip and bow under his hands and Rin’s hair gives way to his fingers and stretches taut between them, ’til his finger prints have engraved themselves into Rin’s scalp, Rin’s jaw, his cheeks, and each minuscule groove has kissed Rin’s pretty throat. He pulls away, unable to draw a single breath, incapable of blinking, staring at the street-light strewn face centimeters from his own.

His exhale rushes out when the first scalding teardrop burns its course across the back of his thumb resting high on Rin's cheek.

“Shit, you idiot.” Rin’s voice is scratchy and watery, strained like a full-to-bursting dam holding back both the moon and tide.

“You’re a bloody-“ Sousuke swallows, “A bloody _gorgeous fucking menace_.”

Rin is silent for once. Sousuke feels ludicrously high.

Sousuke shakes him in bewilderment, voice weak with relief after a decade of tension. “You know you’re my entire fucking universe, you utter dolt. You absolute fucking twat.”

Rin sob-laughs and jerks Sousuke forward by the collar of his fantastic shirt with bone-white knuckles to hash their kiss-red lips together again in an attempt to actually swallow Sousuke whole.

Yes, Rin is red, and the day ends in vermillion. 

**Author's Note:**

> Please use that comment box to tell me your thoughts! \\(n.n)/


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